Dvoyeveriye (dual beliefs, dual belief system) is a concept that is
particularly apt in times of change like now: Old rituals and beliefs get mated
with the new, and you have a lovely hybrid that satisfies everyone and no one.
Pervoye Maya, or Pervomai (May Day) is an extreme example of this -- it's not
dvoyeveriye, but something like pyativeriye. For some people, the first set of
maiskiye prazdniki (May holidays) are a nostalgic last gasp to unite the working
class; for others, a good time to clear the dacha garden; and for still others,
a good chance to zip down to the Canaries for some diving.

In Europe, May Day started out as a nice pagan holiday to celebrate the
spring planting, then turned into a holiday of love (complete with twirling
ribbons around a Maypole). It began its metamorphosis into a working class
holiday at the end of the 19th century -- in memory of a workers' demonstration
in Chicago (calling, among other things, for an eight-hour working day), which
ended in bloodshed. The idea of decent working conditions caught on with the
Russian comrades. Da zdravstvuyet vosem-chasovoi pabochy den! (Here's to the
eight-hour working day), an early Leninist May Day pamphlet read.

In Soviet times, May 1 wasn't as much a show of military might as Nov. 7, so
this was definitely a demonstratsiya (demonstration, rally) and not a parad
(which means a "military parade" in Russian). Khodili na demonstratsii,
podnimali plakat "Proletarii vsekh stran, soyedinyaites" (We took part
in the demonstration, holding a placard that said "Workers of the world,
unite"). There were lots of paper flowers and urgent pleas for the working
people of the world to throw off the shackles of oppression, mostly in the form
of a demonic and well-armed Uncle Sam. Net amerikanskomu imperializmu! (No to
American imperialism!); Doloi amerikanskuyu voenshchinu! (Down with American
militarism Ruki proch ot Ostrova Svobody! (Hands off Cuba, the Island of
Freedom); Dogonim i peregonim Ameriku! (We'll catch up and surpass America!).

And then quietly: Poyedim skoreye na dacha -- kartoshku sazhat (Let's get out
to the dacha as fast as we can to plant potatoes).

This year there is the same America-bashing, although not on Red Square, and
couched in slightly different terms. "Ruki proch" is gone, and no one
cares much about Cuba except as a tourist destination. Instead it's "My
reshitelno vystupayem protiv amerikanskoi agresii v Irake" (We strongly
oppose American aggression in Iraq). And the UN is more important than Haymarket
Square and working class solidarity Nado soblyudat mezhdunarodnoye pravo
(International law must be upheld).

The second May holiday, Den Pobedy (Victory Day) is another matter entirely.
There's no duality or irony here at all -- it's a somber and touching
celebration of those who fought, and those who fell, in World War II -- which
Russians call Velikaya Otchestvennaya voina (the Great Patriotic War). It's a
time for veterans to dust off and don their uniforms and pin on their medals
(from neck to waist, on some) and sit on park benches with their old friends
reminiscing. The slogans are so high toned, one can't call them slogans at all
-- they are almost religious in their fervor. Slava Voinam! (Glory to the
fighting men); Vechnaya pamyat pavshim geroiyam (Our fallen heroes shall stay in
our memories forever); Nizky poklon pobedivshemu narodu (We bow down before the
victorious nation); Nikto ne zabyt , nichto ne zabyto (No one is forgotten, no
deed is forgotten).